"Jim Thome brings 598 career home runs to town for a weekend series between the Indians and his Minnesota Twins. When he hits his 600th, Thome will become the eighth player in Major League Baseball history to reach that plateau.

He'll fall in line with other great power hitters whose work was never linked to performance-enhancing drugs, guys like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey Jr. (Sorry, not you, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez or Sammy Sosa.)

Joining Thome in town Friday night are Robbie Alomar and Bert Blyleven, both recently inducted in the Hall of Fame. That's what's in store for the 40-year-old Thome -- a spot in the Hall. He'll almost assuredly go into Cooperstown in the colors of the team he helped lift to two World Series appearances in the 1990s.

Thome is still paying for the naive comment he made in 2002 that somebody would have to rip his Indians' uniform off his back to get him out of Cleveland. Not the smartest thing to say, seeing the direction attendance and the payroll was bound to go after that perfect storm run at Jacobs Field, and what temptations the Phillies would offer. Some people held that against him even after the Phillies' offer dramatically turned upside down every one of Thome's preconceived notions about the free-agent market.

Some still do nearly 10 years later because this town is unsurpassed in holding sports grudges, as LeBron James IV will discover one day in the distant future. "